The annual Labor Day picnic was held on Monday afternoon at Missoula's Bonner Park.

Organizer for the Missoula Central Labor Council with the ALF/CIO Chad Bishop said the picnic was an informal opportunity for those committed to the labor movement to share some fun, food and music, and to promote ideas and projects for workers.

"We're here today to celebrate labor and to celebrate working people to provide a chance for them to get together and create rapport, and just enjoy themselves," Bishop said. "We're also providing information about all the programs that our CLC runs, that's the Central Labor Council. We have a lot of election activity coming up as you know, so we're speaking about candidates that have been endorsed by the Montana AFL/CIO, such as Amanda Curtis."

Bishop said voter registration was also being emphasized at the event.

"We're also registering people to vote," he said. "We're just trying to increase democracy. We know that registering to vote is the first step in getting involved with politics. And, finally, we have information about our new program called Good Jobs Missoula, which is a non-union program. Through this program, we're providing a platform for low-wage, non-union workers in the city to begin affiliating together to discuss the issues that are most important to them in their work."

Organizer for the Missoula Central Labor Council with the ALF/CIO Chad Bishop